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Alienware M17X Monitor goes black

Hello all,
I have an Alienware M17x Intel i7 2630QM 2.0 - 2.8Ghz, 16GB dual channel DDR3 at 1600Mhz, GForce GTX 560M graphics also an onboard Intel graphics card. For some reason after backtrack starts to load the monitor goes black before getting to the login prompt. I've heard of people having problems loading backtrack on their 3D monitors but this is not a 3d monitor so I thought it wouldn't apply. Does anyone have any idea's. i figured there's not much that can be done since I can't even get the live usb or cd to load.

Re: Alienware M17X Monitor goes black

It seems to me like you have a video problem. See if you are using nouveau drivers. That could be the problem. They do not get along well with nvidia. If so, you need to install nvidia drivers.
best of lucks.

Re: Alienware M17X Monitor goes black

Originally Posted by redlinethecar

Hello all,
I have an Alienware M17x Intel i7 2630QM 2.0 - 2.8Ghz, 16GB dual channel DDR3 at 1600Mhz, GForce GTX 560M graphics also an onboard Intel graphics card. For some reason after backtrack starts to load the monitor goes black before getting to the login prompt. I've heard of people having problems loading backtrack on their 3D monitors but this is not a 3d monitor so I thought it wouldn't apply. Does anyone have any idea's. i figured there's not much that can be done since I can't even get the live usb or cd to load.

Hi redlinethecar,
i have just registered but have been using BT for a while in a VM, i have had the same issue as yourself. And have since worked out a fix that works (after many failed attempts) ANd i decided to tell you how i tried and how it was successful so you can give it a try, hopefully saving you valuable research time in the process.

ANyway, just to clarify, this issue is NOT where the screen fails AFTER typing StartX. It happens after choosing the boot option (i.e no networking, default text mode)

The issue lies with Integrated graphics, and in my particular laptop, Acer Aspire 5552G, i have the AMD Radeon Grahpics chip, without the BIOS options to change this setting (Crappy Insydhe BIOS, even after many BIOS modding attempts, unable to unlock Advanced Features.)

Anyway, on we go, I will giv you a few options, try out each, depending on your installation method and or success of each.

I will assume you are booting from a LIVE CD or LIVE USB, and can get at least get up to the boot options screen, as mentioned earlier ( please advise if this is not the case)

When you get to this boot menu screen, you will see there is a message advising, "Press [tab] to edit" or something to that extent, here we will press tab on the "Default text mode" option.

Now you will see a line appear at the lower half of your screen, which may say something like:

or similar, you need not worry if it is not exact, however what counts is the trailing words from the word "text" onwards.

so we are talking about:

"text splash vga=791--" (no quotes)

Now option 1, you can change this to :

"text splash vga=0x791--" (again no quotes)

this sets VGA mode to be unset, and so this will bring up a screen where you choose your resolution and display type (VGA / VESA), this is trial and error, choosing a wrong Resolution may just cause the same black screen issue, picking the correct one, may be successful.

Option 2
I like this one, works every time, and dont have to waste time choosing the resolution. change the line, as mentioned above:

text splash vga=791--

To this...

text splash nomodeset to i915.modeset=1

This will load properly, you will notice the screen doesnt use the red background frame of backtrack to display while it is loading the drivers/os etc, but will be a standard POST looking screen (AND WILL NOT BOMB OUT TO A BLACK SCREEN)

you will then be presented with the text based prompt where you simply enter startx, and go forth and conquer!

Hope this helps out, it did for me, and when i was successfull it was a real EUREKA moment, so i will compelled to help the fellow community out with my first post!

Please let me know how you get on, so i can assist further, and to confirm if this may help others with a similar issue.

Re: Alienware M17X Monitor goes black

Do you mean that you have optimus on your notebook if so then it wont work correctly as optimus is not supported in linux but you could dissable nouveau and install the nvidia drivers and recreate the xorg.conf file. And or you could test and remove it and startx instead and it should jump in.

Re: Alienware M17X Monitor goes black

or you could boot the live cd and select no drm drivers at the splash screen and see how that works for you, i had a similar problem on a hdd install with my lenovo laptop. If this doesn't work you can try to boot in debug mode to see where its failing you, if you need more please keep us informed.

Re: Alienware M17X Monitor goes black

Originally Posted by pommedean

Hi redlinethecar,
i have just registered but have been using BT for a while in a VM, i have had the same issue as yourself. And have since worked out a fix that works (after many failed attempts) ANd i decided to tell you how i tried and how it was successful so you can give it a try, hopefully saving you valuable research time in the process.

ANyway, just to clarify, this issue is NOT where the screen fails AFTER typing StartX. It happens after choosing the boot option (i.e no networking, default text mode)

The issue lies with Integrated graphics, and in my particular laptop, Acer Aspire 5552G, i have the AMD Radeon Grahpics chip, without the BIOS options to change this setting (Crappy Insydhe BIOS, even after many BIOS modding attempts, unable to unlock Advanced Features.)

Anyway, on we go, I will giv you a few options, try out each, depending on your installation method and or success of each.

I will assume you are booting from a LIVE CD or LIVE USB, and can get at least get up to the boot options screen, as mentioned earlier ( please advise if this is not the case)

When you get to this boot menu screen, you will see there is a message advising, "Press [tab] to edit" or something to that extent, here we will press tab on the "Default text mode" option.

Now you will see a line appear at the lower half of your screen, which may say something like:

or similar, you need not worry if it is not exact, however what counts is the trailing words from the word "text" onwards.

so we are talking about:

"text splash vga=791--" (no quotes)

Now option 1, you can change this to :

"text splash vga=0x791--" (again no quotes)

this sets VGA mode to be unset, and so this will bring up a screen where you choose your resolution and display type (VGA / VESA), this is trial and error, choosing a wrong Resolution may just cause the same black screen issue, picking the correct one, may be successful.

Option 2
I like this one, works every time, and dont have to waste time choosing the resolution. change the line, as mentioned above:

text splash vga=791--

To this...

text splash nomodeset to i915.modeset=1

This will load properly, you will notice the screen doesnt use the red background frame of backtrack to display while it is loading the drivers/os etc, but will be a standard POST looking screen (AND WILL NOT BOMB OUT TO A BLACK SCREEN)

you will then be presented with the text based prompt where you simply enter startx, and go forth and conquer!

Hope this helps out, it did for me, and when i was successfull it was a real EUREKA moment, so i will compelled to help the fellow community out with my first post!

Please let me know how you get on, so i can assist further, and to confirm if this may help others with a similar issue.

----
Dean

Thank you so much for the further information about this issue. Unfortunately this did not work for me. In fact I believe I almost had a seizure when trying this due the the millions of colors that flashed on my screen. This is a very annoying issue and I don't honestly expect it to be an easily solvable issue. I'm thinking it might be the fact that I have an on board graphics card and another graphics card but I'm no expert. I wanted to use the full capability of backtrack but for now I'm going to be using it in VirtualBox. I have way to much CS coursework to keep tinkering with this issue at least until the middle of next month. Ohh also I'm not able to debug due to the screen going black when that option is selected. Thanks guys for all your help and support.

Re: Alienware M17X Monitor goes black

Option 2
I like this one, works every time, and dont have to waste time choosing the resolution. change the line, as mentioned above:

text splash vga=791--

To this...

text splash nomodeset to i915.modeset=1

This will load properly, you will notice the screen doesnt use the red background frame of backtrack to display while it is loading the drivers/os etc, but will be a standard POST looking screen (AND WILL NOT BOMB OUT TO A BLACK SCREEN)

you will then be presented with the text based prompt where you simply enter startx, and go forth and conquer!

Hope this helps out, it did for me, and when i was successfull it was a real EUREKA moment, so i will compelled to help the fellow community out with my first post!

Please let me know how you get on, so i can assist further, and to confirm if this may help others with a similar issue.

----
Dean

DUDE! you are a total beast. Just registered to say thank you. I have a few backtrack live installs that work on every PC except this new HP ProBook 4730s series that has a weird native resolution of like 1600xSomethin.
I'll have to write this down. Thanks again